Are you there Judy Blume fans? It's me, Tiger Eyes.

Willa Holland plays Davey

Strange that a Judy Blume book hasn't been made into a feature film before now. There's been television but this is the first time on the big screen: Tiger Eyes is being released without hullabaloo on June 7th. It will also be available on demand. The director is Lawrence Blume; the author's son - what absolute heaven that must have been for Mama Blume; I can only imagine how thrilled I would be to collaborate with my own filmmaker son! Blume and son adapted her novel together as well. 
On a trip to New Mexico with her mother and little brother after the death of her father in a 7-11 robbery, Davey (a teenage girl) is befriended by a young Native American who helps her find the strength to carry on.
Davey is played by Willa Holland (Arrow, Gossip Girls), Amy Jo Johnson as her mother and Tatanka Means.

Blume told EW Lawrence told EW that he first read “Tiger Eyes” when he was in college and that the book “affected [him] deeply,” in part because he and Blume moved to New Mexico when he was a teenager after his parents divorced, and he struggled there.
Lawrence said it was difficult getting the film made despite Blume’s fame and the current multiple young adult book adaptations happening at the movies.


“It’s a Judy Blume movie,” he said. “That should be enough, you would think. What shocked me was that a big segment of the business knew who Judy Blume was but they didn’t understand who she was. Part of it is that the film business is run mostly by old white men – and some young ones, too – who didn’t grow up with her books.”  That's a pretty tragic state of affairs!

Check out the trailer, see what you think. 

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Cate Blanchett and Mia Wasikowska couple up in May December romance

Cate Blanchett

While Blue is the Warmest Color, winner of the Palme D'or is certainly the biggest lesbian love story to come out of Cannes this year -  it's not the only one. Dealmaker Harvey Weinstein finalized and announced his plans (or grabbed the chance at free pr) at Cannes to go forward with the Todd Haynes directed adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's gay romance novel of the 1950's Carol aka The Price of Salt. Adapted by Phyllis Nagy, the film comes with Cate Blanchett and Mia Wasikowska attached and starts filming in the fall. 

Mia Wasikowska

Like Behind the Candelabra, this love story is a May December romance too. According to Deadline  Carol tells the dual stories of two women: a twenty-something woman (Wasikowska) working in a department store hoping for a better life; and a wife (Blanchett) trapped in a loveless marriage, afraid for her daughter if she bolts. Apparently at the time it was unheard of for lesbian fiction to end optimistically; Highsmith (Stranger on a Train, The Talented Mr. Ripley) a closeted homosexual herself broke form with Carol earning the novel high praise in the lesbian community at the time. I find the casting fascinating; both are unconventional blonde beauties - who could easily play mother and daughter rather than lovers.

Here's the publisher's take on the book - 
"Therese first glimpses Carol in the New York department store where she is working as a sales assistant. Carol is choosing a present for her daughter; she looks preoccupied, exuding an aura of elegance as perfect as a secret. Standing there at the counter, Therese suddenly feels wholly innocent - wholly unprepared for the first shock of love. Therese was nineteen, and loved by a young man she cared about, but could not desire. Carol was a sophisticated married woman. Now Therese seemed to have no other purpose to her life other than their meeting. First published under a pseudonym in 1952, Carol is a love story told with compelling wit and eroticism, and consummate tenderness."

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Behind the Candelabra: My take on the movie

Warning: This Post Riddled with Spoilers 
Behind the Candelabra, the story of Liberace and his lover Scott Thorson, gets off to a bumpy campy start with their meeting in Liberace's Vegas dressing room. Liberace (Michael Douglas) has such a ridiculous leer on his face, he so obviously wants to devour Thorson(Damon) who just stands there looking goofy and gorgeous and uncomfortable that for a nano-second I cringed. I watched cautiously measuring my responses to seeing these two actors as I had never seen them before; but before long I was in it completely, laughing at the outlandishness of it all but swept up by these two men, these two people, and the wild and crazy story of their love and its predictable demise. It could have been a made for TV disaster but tethered by Soderbergh's clear-eyed direction and brutally honest, committed performances from both Matt Damon and Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra escapes being a cheap celebrity tell all or juicy titillation; it's a compelling deconstruction of a love story that's bizarre for most of us (it's not your everyday relationship where your sex addict musical legend boyfriend asks you to have a face lift to look like him!)that somehow touches us all. 

Damon as Liberace's young lover is all fawning innocence at the beginning; the dopey look on his face, his mouth open in unformed response; a babe in the woods; hunky Matt Damon totally sells being swept off his feet by Douglas' cooing, lonely, Liberace. And like I said, 'committed'. I thought MLH was going to faint when Thorson (Damon), clad in a skimpy white rhinestone mankini, climbed up out of the pool and straddled Douglas on a chaise. As the two start making out, Douglas grabs Damon's butt in both his hands - it's an audacious and hilarious move. And you can certainly see what Liberace sees in Thorson to leer at; Damon must have been working out with Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper's trainer to achieve those arms, that back; Damon looked hot. Technical term.

Embracing the role of Liberace, Douglas left his vanity in his trailer. When we see the legendary pianist without a wig for the first time, bald, mere wisps of hair poking out the sides, his paunch escaping from his bare, towel-wrapped torso, we're as speechless as Thorson. Is this really the superstar?  In the scenes where Liberace performs onstage, Douglas has to compete with a blindingly dazzling set but manages to steal the spotlight, like he was born to strutt his stuff, trailing an outlandish Swarovsky crystal-encrusted white fox cape behind him.  But it's the one to one moments that make this one of Douglas' finest performances; capturing the desperation of the older man in his eyes, finding his own softness and vulnerability in order to reveal Liberace's complex man in love. His performance could have been the cringe-worthy caricature I dreaded - but it wasn't. It was honest, illuminating, heart-wrenching and great fun to watch. 

Soderbergh details the couple's rise and fall with authenticity; the HBO Behind the Scenes vid I posted is actually pretty informative with specifics from the craftsmen and women on the amazing sets, hand-sewn costumes, wigs and first rate makeup. These spot-on elements keep us grounded in time and place - a time and place that demanded gay stars stay closeted - while the relationship unravels.

Soderbergh finishes his film with the unbelievably beautiful funeral scene. Thorson, sitting alone at the back of the Catholic church, watches as Liberace - spectacularly attired as ever - rises up like an angel to where his piano waits on a platform high in the air. Bathed in Soderbergh's soft gold light*, Thorson watches, his eyes warm and filled with love, while Liberace sings his signature version of The Impossible Dream. I was seriously done in. Shoulders shaking, the whole shebang. 

Kudos to both Douglas and Damon for embracing the challenge - and each other - with gusto. And to Soderbergh. What a spectacular retirement party! The truth is that while the director is famously retiring; for the time being it's just from feature work - and who knows how long that will last? In the meantime cable tv is more than thrilled to have him. Soderbergh's next project will be The Knick starring Clive Owens for Cinemax.

See the real Liberace sing The Impossible Dream. The vocal starts at about 1:15 in. 

*Russell (the filmmaker son) clued me in that Soderbergh used a fog filter which creates a soft glow and flare to set a warm romantic tone. 

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Kiss and Tell: Behind the scenes of Behind the Candelabra

HBO has released an extended behind-the-scenes look at Behind the Candelabra, the tv movie based on Scott Thorson's memoir about his life with Liberace. The Steven Soderbergh film starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon airs this Sunday at 9PM EST.  The buzz, as I buzzed yesterday, is that it's brilliant.  The 15 minute piece includes interviews with the actors - including the question of kissing each other - as well as archival footage of Liberace and some of his opulent homes. The production and costume designers share some of the amazing stuff they created for the film - sumptuous costumes bedazzled with crystals, a cape hand-sewn with ostrich feathers; diamond-encrusted pianos,  a reproduction of the reproduction of the Sistine Chapel that Liberace had painted on the ceiling of one of his homes. There are no spoilers so feel free to view; unless you'd rather not know how they make delicious Rob Lowe look so hideous?

Rob Lowe plays a plastic surgeon in Behind the Candelabra

Behind the Candelabra extended behind the scenes look 14 minutes

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Behind the Candelabra: Bling It On!

If Cannes has been a bit of a mixed bag for James Franco's adaptation of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, another adaptation I've been watching out for had a much more uniformly enthusiastic reception. Steven Soderbergh's movie Behind the Candelabra, based on Scott Thorson's memoir of his life with Liberace -Thorson is played by Matt Damon, Michael Douglas is the flamboyant entertainer - has blown most everyone away. Turns out it's the full-on glitz fest everyone expected but critics are just bursting that it works! Liberace was larger than life amplified when he was alive so it stands to reason that  'over the top' as a criticism doesn't apply. And Soderbergh, by all accounts, seems to have managed to capture Liberace's and Scott's time together in an honest and moving film without falling into schtick or caricatures.

Matt Damon and Michael Douglas both turn in powerful performances; Oscar blogger Sasha Stone called it "Soderbergh's best film in years," going on to say "were this movie released in US theaters* there would be Oscar nominations all around. Douglas might have even won his second." 

Major bummer for Michael Douglas his "Oscar-worthy performance" as Liberace isn't eligible because it's a TV movie, but not for us. We get to watch Behind the Candelabra when it airs this Sunday, May 26th at 9pm EST.*  I know what I'll be doing Sunday night. What about you? Maybe this trailer will help you decide; it's razzle dazzle drama.

* Good news for the UK - the film is being released in cinemas there on June 7th.

Behind the Candelabra Trailer

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James Franco won't lay dying

James Franco is dividing critics, as usual, this time with his adaptation of William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying which screened at Cannes this week.  Interesting to note even the negative reviews grant Franco respect for the effort. An E for effort in the school-like references that critics like Mary Corliss in Time are making as a sort of snarky nod to Franco's grad student status. 

Franco brought it on with his own essay online in the online compendium Vice challenging the critics of Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby. 

 “The critics who’ve ravaged the film for not being loyal to the book are hypocrites.These people make their living doing readings and critiques of texts in order to generate theories of varying levels of competency. Luhrmann’s film is his reading and adaptation of a text – his critique, if you will.”

Feelin' Fine

Corliss begins her review of I Lay Dying by including the quote and going out of her way  to identify the author as "A Ph.D. candidate in English literature at Yale University" before revealing the author as Franco. Corliss goes for the collegiate dig, summing up the film this way 

"... the film of As I Lay Dying reveals itself as a successful summer project for a multitasking graduate student.  But that’s just one opinion of the film. For the definitive take, we must await James Franco’s review of his own film: his critique of his critique, if you will."

It's worth noting that most of the critics focus on Franco's use of split screens; Corliss puts it this way. 

"Faulkner told this story in a chorus of voices: 15 narrators in the 59 chapters. To locate an equivalent for the novel’s polyphonal scheme, Franco often employs split screens. They may give views of two characters, as when Ma is inside the shack beckoning to Cash outside; or additional perspectives of a single calamity, such as when Addie’s coffin is lost in a river. Sometimes we get two aspects of the same character from slightly different perspectives, as if showing Take One and Take Two. The device imposes a strange rhythm on the images. It distracts as often as it enlightens, and Franco himself seems to have tired of the tactic. He mostly dispenses with it halfway through the film."

Whatever the critical verdict Franco won't be stopped. He's already got the adaptation of Andres Dubus III  Garden of Last Days in development; he'll direct and likely star. 

Below, links to a few of the reviews. First up, THR's Todd McCarthy's rather glowing one!
I'm intrigued.

The Hollywood Reporter

"James Franco has pulled off a devilishly difficult literary adaptation with this faithful yet cinematically vibrant version of William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. "

The Guardian               

"But with As I Lay Dying Franco can chalk up a qualified but distinct success, and another chapter in what is becoming a very notable career."

TIME                                 
"And the movie, whose script he adapted with his Yale classmate Matt Rager, could be an elaborate summer project: attempting to find a cinematic language for Faulkner’s text — Franco’s critique, if you will. The effort is honorable, a mixture of mannerism and earned emotion."

The Independent            
"Franco’s approach to the task is bold and yields some startlingly beautiful sequences but, as feature length drama, it is also lumpy and very uneven"

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My take on the movie: What Maisie Knew is an inspired adaptation.

Kudos to screenwriters Nancy Doyne and Carroll Cartwright for extracting the essential truth of Henry James' novel What Maisie Knew and implanting it in a thoroughly modern context. Released from the dreary schoolroom, hansom cabs and grey skies of Victorian era London, 'Maisie' feels fresh, new and right at home in Manhattan's upper west side, circa now.

The directors chat with Onata over a Shirley Temple

Directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel dismissed any need to be slavishly devoted to James' novel. As McGehee told Scriptlab;  "It’s really the spirit of the book that you need to preserve, not the plot points; not the character relationships even. You have to identity what it is that you love about the book and make sure you don’t lose that. It’s not a book report; you’re really trying to invent something brand new." They left the hard work to the screenwriters. Following James' lead, Doyne and Cartwright tell the story from Maisie's perspective; it took them years to get it right. Luckily the directors found a really remarkable young actress, Onata Aprile, to channel the character just as flawlessly.

Julianne Moore's character has a way with words

Julianne Moore, tatted over her freckles, plays Maisie's mother, Susanna (Ida in the novel); a self-involved rocker who loves her daughter but would rather party and bestow pricey presents like giant stuffed ponies and guitars, than be a parent. Maisie's dad, Beale, is an equally self-centered art dealer played by a younger-looking, skinnier Steve Coogan than I remember from The Trip. 

Kelly McGehee nails the design concept for Susanna's Manhattan home

These two really despise each other; When Susanna locks Beale out of the apartment - an uber-cool and multi-leveled floor plan designed by production designer and McGehee's wife, Kelly McGehee - for one transgression too many, - the couple hurls F bombs at each other through the front door, the hatred escalating when he comes inside, while Maisie listens, pale and confused.

Maisie loves her daddy played by Steve Coogan

And so the battle for custody begins. Coogan catches the right cavalier note of those formerly charming 'boys will be boys' types, smirking at Maisie, making his daughter a confidant in his war against 'her' but young Maisie, like daughters everywhere, loves her daddy, despite his faults. The truth is he has no clue what to do with Maisie, no more than Susanna does.

Margo (Joanna Vanderham) and Maisie

Both would rather leave the actual care and feeding of the little girl to her nanny, Margo (Joanna Vanderham) while they pursue their more worldly and separate affairs. Ultimately - and all in an offscreen rush - Beale marries Margo, gaining a live-in babysitter for Maisie and a friend with benefits situation for himself. He treats her so thoughtlessly it's not surprising that she and Lincoln are thrown together.

Susanna /Julianne Moore + Lincoln /Alexander Skarsgard

Alexander Skarsgard: "stepdad" or manny?

In a desperate stab to hold onto her custody rights,  Susanna responds to Beale's marriage by taking up with the much younger, Lincoln (Alexander Skarsgard), an awkward, overgrown puppy and hanger-on who Maisie quickly grows to adore. There's a slight turning in of the toes of Skarsgard's  Converse-clad feet that accentuates the gawky giant's sweet and uncomplicated nature. Helping Maisie open juice boxes, striding the High Line in Manhattan as Maisie dangles from his bicep, Lincoln comes off like a true manny who adores his tiny charge as much as she does him.

In the source material, Maisie is supposed to alternate from house to house every six months; the movie's more modern equivalent makes the proposition 10 days with mom, ten days with dad. In both instances, Maisie is likely to hear the equivalent of 'you take her - no you take her' while her parents and caretakers constantly leave her stranded.

At which point quite a few audience members might be heard to call out 'I'll take her'  'No I'll take her'; Onata Aprile is that luminous as Maisie. Onata doesn't do much really; she doesn't have to do a thing except be that hardest of things to be; natural, authentic, a real child. Clomping up and down the stairs in cowboy boots, starred leggings, assorted hats and crowns and an expensive nouveau hippie chic wardrobe that mirrors her mother's from costume designer Stacey Battat, Maisie is a soulful, watchful, utterly loveable little girl who steals this particular show. It's painful to see this impish pixie repeatedly let down, and put in sickening situations as the adults conduct themselves shamelessly.

Sarsgard + Onata Aprile color together

Credit to Ms. Moore for layering her own character so richly; in a telling scene Susanna is working on some vocals in the glass sound booth in her home studio, while Lincoln Susanna' sweet and awkward bartender boy-toy cum 'husband' hangs out listlessly and Maisie sits coloring. The more Lincoln is drawn to Maisie, engaging with her, helping her to color a tricky drawbridge, both of their faces lit up with happiness and oblivious for a few moments of Susanna and her constant needs; the more we see her face darken through the glass booth. She finally storms out and pulls Maisie into the booth with her; so jealous is she, so unused to sharing the spotlight. Selfish to be sure, but still a mother; Susanna's maternal instincts do kick in a dreadful  moment when she sees fear on Maisie's face for the first time.

Julianne Moore is heart-wrenching as Maisie's extreme
slacker mom

"Are you afraid of me?" Moore almost wails, the cry a threat in itself somehow. It's her most dramatic moment of the film; her face crumbling as she sees herself through Maisie's young eyes.

Even when they've let her down the most, Maisie still responds to the sound of her parents' voices by running and jumping into their arms, calling out mommy mommy, daddy daddy. She will always love them; they're her parents, it's in the nature of children to love their parents - even when their parents are abusive or negligent.  By the movie's end, Maisie has learned someone is supposed to be looking after her. And that that somebody may just have to be Maisie herself.

What Maisie Knew is an emotionally moving story that is as vital and alive as ever thanks to an inspired script, directors who weren't afraid to let a little child lead them, strong performances on every level and along with skilled, modern, costume and production design, a solid score from Nick Urata.

Link to music from What Maisie Knew here.  Read my take on the book here. 

                                         

And enjoy the trailer here -

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Leonardo DiCaprio says hello to The Deep Blue Good-by

This excites the hell out of me - Dennis Lehane, author of novels Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, is adapting the great John D. MacDonald's The Deep Blue Good-by, the first of the Travis McGee books FOR LEONARDO DICAPRIO TO PLAY TRAVIS. I feel like a little kid but I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait. Leo as a beach bum? And as this particular cynical but romantic beach bum? Yes please.  If this goes well there could be a whole Travis McGee franchise opportunity - there are plenty more colorfully titled McGee books to keep going and going and going: The Quick Pink Fox, The Turquoise Lament, The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper, The Green Ripper, A Purple Place for Dying, etc etc. MLH turned me on to MacDonald; I haven't read him in awhile but I was always intrigued to see how the title was referenced. Do you know how it played out in The Deep Blue Good-By?  

Here's the overview of The Deep Blue Good-by from B&N
Travis McGee is a self-described beach bum who won his houseboat in a card game. He’s also a knight-errant who’s wary of credit cards, retirement benefits, political parties, mortgages, and television. He only works when his cash runs out, and his rule is simple: He’ll help you find whatever was taken from you, as long as he can keep half.

McGee isn’t particularly strapped for cash, but how can anyone say no to Cathy, a sweet backwoods girl who’s been tortured repeatedly by her manipulative ex-boyfriend Junior Allen? What Travis isn’t anticipating is just how many women Junior has torn apart and left in his wake. Enter Junior’s latest victim, Lois Atkinson.

Frail and broken, Lois can barely get out of bed when Travis finds her, let alone keep herself alive. But Travis turns into Mother McGee, giving Lois new life as he looks for the ruthless man who steals women’s spirits and livelihoods. But he can’t guess how violent his quest is soon to become. He’ll learn the hard way that there must be casualties in this game of cat and mouse in The Deep Blue Good-by.

MLH isn't quite sure about Leo as Travis is the big and burly type; I think his charisma will sell it and everyone will fall in love with Travis. Is Leo what you pictured as Travis? Who would you cast?
Details to come - any John D. MacDonald fans out there as jazzed as I am?

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What Maisie Knew ... my take on the Henry James' classic

What Maisie Knew is quite an old book - published in 1897 - but its' subject matter is just as timely in 2013 as ever. The inspiration for a new film starring Julianne Moore, Alexander Skarsgard, Steve Coogan, Joanna Vanderham and scene stealing Onata Aprile, here's the overview of the novel's storyline from Barnes and Noble.

"After her parents’ bitter divorce, young Maisie Farange finds herself shuttled between her selfish mother and vain father, who value her only as a means for provoking each other. Maisie—solitary, observant, and wise beyond her years—is drawn into an increasingly entangled adult world of intrigue and sexual betrayal until she is finally compelled to choose her own future. Published in 1897 as Henry James was experimenting with narrative technique and fascinated by the idea of the child’s-eye view, What Maisie Knew is a subtle yet devastating portrayal of an innocent adrift in a corrupt society."

My take on the book
While I read and loved Portrait of a Lady in my youth, these days I find Henry James' language a bit too archaic and convoluted; it's tedious to have to read and re-read some of James' more ambitious sentences several times before moving on! And moving on is quite often more of the same. Poor Maisie, when she's not being forgotten, she's constantly being pulled back and forth between fathers and mothers, governesses and stepfathers, in six months rotation periods; she's been exposed to a wide variety of bad behavior which only Mrs.Wix - her governess from her mother's household - and her stepfather Sir Claude seem the least bit concerned.

Maisie, constantly questioned by each parent about the other, learns quickly how best to couch her answers. Let's speak plainly; her self-obsessed mother is more concerned with securing new lovers than worrying where or how, her daughter is. Her father, similarly self-centered, gets to have it off with his daughter's pretty young governess; by marrying Miss Overmore he has convenient built-in child care and the worry of Maisie off his shoulders.  Miss Overmore and Mrs.Wix both rely on Maisie as a means to a living and a place to sleep. To put it crudely; no one gives a crap about the child except as she affects them. Sir Claude has genuine feelings for Maisie but he's little more than a kept man, with no money of his own, and helpless to change his nature.

cover art by Edward Gorey

In the novella, James wants us to know only 'what Maisie knew' nothing more or less; the constant question in the reader's mind, as adults talk over, around and far too much, directly to, Maisie,  is just what six year old Maisie does know and what does she make of what she's seen? How much does she understand the choices the adults in her life make, and what does she imagine those choices say about their feelings for her?

Maisie's welfare is a thin pretext for the adults in Maisie's world satisfying their own needs - ultimately every one in the book disappoints us, but not Maisie. All the while she's been watching, listening, learning; she accepts her lot at the story's end with a shrug. It's heartbreaking to see how little mind she pays, as if she had already assessed her value, the pure simple power of her innocence, and realized she could never compete against the temptations of the adult sexual world.

While I found the idea at the heart of the novel very compelling in its' contemporary nature, the experience of reading the book was - for me - just too exhausting to highly recommend it.

Will it make a good movie? Yes! Nancy Doyne has written an adaptation that captures the essence of the story but completely contemporized it. I've just seen the film and aim to get my take up shortly but in a word. LOVE. And obviously, loads better than the book.

Side note: As shocking, appalling and heartbreaking as Maisie's treatment in the novel, even more disturbing to me were the hateful words James put in Maisie's mouth to describe her father's newest 'friend'.

"Maisie in truth almost gasped in her own; this was with the fuller perception that she was brown indeed. She literally struck the child as more as an animal than a 'real' lady; she might have been a clever frizzled poodle in a frill or a dreadful human monkey in a spangled petticoat." 

I was so surprised by the inherent racism that I googled James only to learn to my horror that his nonfiction look at America - The American Scene - is rife with it. I'm depressed by my own ignorance about James; but how disappointing to see that level of ignorance put forth by a supposed intellectual!
Why should I want to read anything else by this bigoted old gasbag???

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The Spring Snow falls in The Fault in our Stars

We don't have 'spring snow' in L.A.  That's the annual Amsterdam springtime ritual when the Iepen (the elm trees) shake off their seeds, so beautifully described by John Green in The Fault in Our Stars. 

The elm trees cast off their seeds every spring

'There were elm trees everywhere along the canals, and these seeds were blowing out of them. But they didn't look like seeds. They looked for all the world like miniaturized rose petals drained of their color. These pale petals were gathering in the wind like flocking birds- thousands of them, like a spring snowstorm. 

The old man who'd given up his seat saw us noticing and said, in English, "Amsterdam's spring snow. The iepen throw confetti to greet the spring."

Jacaranda trees bloom briefly in May and June

We don't have Iepen (elms) in L.A. - at least not in any number to create the slightest sort of flurry - but every year in May and June the Jacaranda's purple the sky with their shock of color. 

The short-lived blooms ends up strewn across lawns and sidewalks in bright little pick-me-up pops of purple. There's no festival but it's an annual  brightening that brings me joy.


See the spring snow in Amsterdam at the Springsnow festival site here.  TFIOS director Josh Boone has indicated that he will be shooting in Amsterdam - what would a TFIOS movie be without a romantic dinner at the fictional canal-side restaurant Oranjee and a trip to Ann Frank's house? Since the production starts shooting in August - but the seeds are snowing now - are we doomed to faux CGI elm seeds scattering in the air?

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Listen to Julianne Moore sing with The Kills in 'What Maisie Knew'

What Maisie Knew opens today in L.A.; my understanding is that it's in limited roll-out but I'm not sure where besides the usual big city suspects. In the screen adaptation of Henry James' novella, Julianne Moore plays Maisie's divorced mother Susanna, an aging rocker. (more on the story, including a trailer with music by STARS here) In the film she teams up with real-life rock group The Kills, singing two songs with them on the soundtrack, “Night Train” and “Hook and Line.”

EW has an exclusive audio stream of both recordings plus the score from the gorgeous soundtrack; the What Maisie Knew theme is especially lush. The soundtrack is available on i-tunes now. Take a listen and see what you think. Do you buy Julianne Moore as a rocker, albeit an 'aging' one? Either way I'm pretty psyched to see this one; I'm eager to see how they've 'adapted' the story. Surely she can't be as despicable and selfish as she is in the book.

LISTEN TO JULIANNE MOORE SING WITH THE KILL

The accompanying article also includes a snippet of a photoshoot that Susanna and her daughter Maisy (Onata Aprile) do as publicity for her world tour. It looks like she's really working that rocker vibe - I think Moore is so cool she can pull it off. EW reports that directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel wrote the following in the soundtrack's booklet. “Before production began, we took Julianne Moore (an avowed ‘non-singer’) to see The Kills perform. Watching her watch the band was incredible: She couldn’t take her eyes off [lead singer] Alison [Mosshart].”
"The EW exclusive stream of the full soundtrack includes the score by Nick Urata and the ethereal closing credits song, “Feeling of Being,” by Lucy Schwartz."

You might also be interested in this L.A. Times piece with Julianne on playing Susanna, Ida Farange in the novel.

Which I read and have mixed feelings about; I'll have to get it sorted at some point.

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Scarlett Johansson is Making a "Summer Crossing"

Scarlett Johansson

Update 5/16/2012: I TOLDJA about Scarlett Johansson adapting Summer Crossing over a year ago, back on 11/12/2011!  Johansson's finally getting some financing and announced at Cannes that they'll start shooting next year.  She talked to EW about the project “Several years ago I began working alongside the Capote estate and writer Tristine Skylar to adapt Summer Crossing, an inspired early work of Truman’s which has long captured my heart,” Johansson said. “Being able to bring this story to the screen as my full-length directorial debut is a life dream and deep privilege.”  

Here's my original post from 2011.  

Another actor takes the plunge!  Scarlett Johansson's rep confirms a Variety report that Johansson is set to make her directorial debut.  The project is an adaptation of Truman Capote's novella, Summer Crossing. Choosing a shorter work - it's a 142 page book - is a smart move right off the bat! And the material would seem to be in her wheelhouse. It's the story of a rebellious 17 year old debutante, Grady, who refuses to accompany her WASPish parents to Europe. Instead she stays in Manhattan for the summer and begins a relationship with a Jewish parking lot attendant. Capote started writing the story when he was just 19 years old; but it wasn't published until after his death in 2005. And while critics don't consider it to be of the calliber of a Breakfast at Tiffany's, that's not say it won't make a great little film. Presuming of course, that Ms. Scarlett is up to the task. She's certainly a terrific actress and has rubbed shoulders and hopefully learned from some very respected pros, like Woody Allen (Match Point) and Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation). Writer and actress Tristine Skyler will write the screenplay and Johansson's role will be behind the camera only.  I expect the two women are friends and colleagues and excited about bringing what sounds like a compelling story to the screen. What do you think? Is Scarlett Johansson ready?
source: ew.com, amazon.com

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Hailee Steinfeld goes For the Dogs with Sam Worthington

Some news from Cannes on the Phillip Noyce adaption of Kevin Wignall's novel For the Dogs. The film, set to star Sam Worthington as Stephen Lucas, a hit man hired to watch over a teenage girl, gets his girl; True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld. I haven't paid attention to this one; I usually don't seek out thrillers and suspense for reading material although I almost always end up enjoying them. Especially when Publishers Weekly compares the author to John leCarre! Have you read it? Sounds good ...

"In this slim, fast-paced page-turner, Wignall returns to one of the themes of his well-received first novel, People Die-the sympathetic hit man who has, if not exactly a conscience, extended internal considerations of the moral implications of his trade. Stephen Lucas, a recently retired, emotionally stunted hit man, emerges from his Swiss hideaway as a favor to old friend Londoner Mark Hatto, who hires Lucas to surreptitiously guard his daughter, bright, extroverted Ella, while she's vacationing in Italy with her boyfriend. After Ella's entire family is murdered, Lucas foils several serious attempts on Ella's life, and the two of them form an odd, almost familial relationship. The boyfriend soon drops out of the picture as the hit man reluctantly helps Ella exact revenge on those who killed her family. There's plenty of action, but it's the twisting, turning, complicated relationship between Ella and Lucas that forms the core of this compelling novel. Most popular genre writers allow and even encourage the category elements-action, adventure, suspense-to subsume the literary ones, but Wignall concentrates instead on the questions of character and motivation that make for a deeper reading experience. The names le Carre, Simenon and recent British mystery author Mark Billingham come to mind, making this a blend of old and new masters wrapped up in an original, finely hewn effort. "

Sam Worthington seen here in Man on a Ledge
to star as Lucas, a 'retired ' hit man in For the Dogs

With the exception of The Debt in which Sam Worthington played the young David character, the thirty seven year old Australian actor has been in films and tv shows I'm not familiar with or that I just don't care about - Avatar,  Clash of the Titan, Wrath of the Titans.
 I did see Avatar once which was enough - astonishing visuals with no story - but can't remember what I thought of him. I did think he  was lovely in The Debt though; the entire cast
was; Jessica Chastain in particular. That's the extent of my Sam Worthington knowledge.

Hailee Steinfeld seen here in a scene from Romeo + Juliet
is the teenage girl Lucas is hired to protect.

Hailee Steinfeld, the precocious teenager, is in fact just sixteen so I hope they'll stick to the story line in the novel - I won't spoil it with the details but part of the tension is that Lucas wants to get back to his girlfriend and their child. Steinfeld hasn't had a thing on screen since her breakthrough in 2010's True Grit. Now, she has no less than ten -10- projects due to come out this year or next! Romeo+Juliet with the too pretty Douglas Booth is slated for July, Loveship, Hateship based on Alice Munro's kinda eponymous collection of short stories doesn't have distribution yet; the cast also includes Kristin Wiig, Guy Pearce and Nick Nolte - a bit of a hodge podge. Ender's Game will undoubtedly be BIG when it comes out in November and then as I said, she has what, seven more projects including this one in various stages of production. Side note: Steinfeld is currently filming The Homesman, a Tommy Lee Jones trinity; Jones stars, directs and co-wrote the screenplay based on the book by Glendon Swarthout. Jones as director? I would love to watch that; I imagine he's calm and business-like on set; consult with the pro's, rely on their advice and get the shot.

For the Dogs was adapted by hunky Paul Leyden
seen here as Simon Frasier in As the World Turns

The For the Dogs screenplay was originally written by Paul Leyden who, according to Deadline, optioned the rights to the novel with his own money; which they say is never smart. They being "they" not Deadline. Whoever they are, they might be right. Leyden is not only a writer, he's a hunky TV soap actor - Simon Frasier on As The World Turns, Blake on The Young & the Restless - who looks the part so strongly that it makes me wonder whether he optioned the book and wrote the screenplay way back in the beginning pre-Worthingtonin order to play the part of Lucas himself. I'm just wildly speculating but now Deadline reports that another writer was brought in, Oren Moverman who "wrote a script based on the adaptation of the novel by Paul Leyden."

I wonder what the story is there;  I wonder too what contractual difference it makes with the WGA and the moolah; any writers guild experts out there?

In the highly skilled hands of Australian (Leyden's an Aussie too) director Phillip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games, The Bone Collector, Salt) For the Dogs will probably be fantastic regardless of the book; still the film is still in pre-production and won't come out for over a year plenty of time to read the book and get to know the characters. Judging by the description they sound worth knowing. Learn more about the book at kevinwignall.com

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This Is Where I Leave You : On location in New York City

JAZZY COVER

UpdatedFilming  for the screen adaptation of Jonathan Tropper's This Is Where I Leave You got underway yesterday in NYC. The first day's shooting location was Oakland Cemetery, 2 Saw Mill River Rd, Yonkers, NY. according to On Location Vacations. Not sure if they've moved on yet or not - depends on the length funeral in the novel, I s'pose. (10am Update: OLV reports the film is shooting today at Coler-Goldwater Hospital on Roosevelt Island.) Tropper wrote the screenplay himself; the only other screenwriter credit is as writer/producer credit on the show Banshee. I wonder if he already had a finished product in hand when the producers approached him to write the script ... or who approached who first?

If you haven't read This Is Where I Leave You - as I have not - here's the book description filched right from Amazon...

"The death of Judd Foxman's father marks the first time that the entire Foxman clan has congregated in years. There is, however, one conspicuous absence: Judd's wife, Jen, whose affair with his radio- shock-jock boss has recently become painfully public. Simultaneously mourning the demise of his father and his marriage, Judd joins his dysfunctional family as they reluctantly sit shiva-and spend seven days and nights under the same roof. The week quickly spins out of control as longstanding grudges resurface, secrets are revealed and old passions are reawakened. Then Jen delivers the clincher: she's pregnant.

This Is Where I Leave You is Jonathan Tropper's (One Last Thing Before I Go) most accomplished work to date, and a riotously funny, emotionally raw novel about love, marriage, divorce, family, and the ties that bind-whether we like it or not."

Shades of Joshua Henkin's The World Without You* in that they both deal with the death in a large, dysfunctional Jewish family with depth and humor. *That's a book I'd like to see adapted by the way! Click my take for my thoughts on The World Without You by Joshua Henkin.

The cast of This is Where I Leave You includes Jason Bateman as the son, Judd (unless they change the name) Tina Fey, Adam Driver (Girls) and Corey Stoll; his siblings. Abigail Spencer is Bateman's estranged wife, Jen. Rose Byrne is Bateman's love interest; a role reportedly read for  by Isla Fisher, Zoe Saldana, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ari Graynor. Timothy Olyphant is Fey's once-upon-a-time love; he still lives at home, due to a brain injury, across the street from the Foxman house. Deadline also reports that Dax Sheperd will play a "Stern-like radio shock jock" - presumably the boss Bateman catches sleeping with his wife. Ben Schwarz (Parks and Rec) is the family's rabbi trying to help smoothe the process of sitting shivah along.

And now Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) has joined the cast as an 'age-inappropriate girlfriend' to Driver's character, the baby of the family. Plus she's a therapist and he's got a lot of problems.
Have you read Tropper's book? What do you think of the casting? Here's hoping that director Shawn Levy can do justice to the novel; he did Date Night with Fey and that wasn't so hot. Very conventional and predictable. This sounds like material that would be magic in the hands of someone like Jason Reitman (Up in the Air, Young Adult) who knows how to tell an authentic adult story about human relationships. Levy, on the other hand, may be equally sharp but his resume is full of TV movies and formulaic comedies like Date Night, and Cheaper by the Dozen. Some laughs but little nuance. But that's neither here nor there; Levy is on the job. More details as info and first pictures surface online.

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As I Lay Dying ... First trailer and poster for Franco's Cannes entry

POSTER

BOOK

Here's the first trailer for James Franco's movie adaptation of As I Lay Dying. And finally a poster! A very pleasing poster that is so strong and GRAPHIC without being graphic; I suspect it's just a placeholder created for Cannes; can you imagine a film poster without a giant head or heads on it?
They'll use this as a teaser until the film gets its distributor and then the real marketing gets ramped up. And then they'll need James. Which brings us back to Franco and whether he shoulda even tried to make this adaptation and you know what - and this won't be delicately put - I'm really fed up with critics and the voices of those who don't have a clue how to 'do' themselves but quite gleefully tell those that do, why their efforts stink and why they shouldn't bother. Of course there's an important place for healthy, heck, any kind, of criticism but isn't our twitter/facebook/corpocracy world just a little overfull of the biggest bunch of whiners and kvetchers, crybabies and knowitalls ever? When we are all busy talking at people; who is there to listen? Who can hear amid the noise? And this from someone who was a total idiot on Twitter yesterday, sending out over a dozen tweets like a complete twit, and probably pissing off my peeps. I'm not innocent, that's for sure.


TRAILER

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